Revelation 8:13-9:21 "Out Of The Smoke Locusts Came" Greg Bahnsen Revelation Verse By Verse

Started. It's about time. I don't have my watch, so I can't guarantee we'll finish on time. The bell just may cut us short. But let's get started with the word of prayer. Father, we rejoice in the salvation which you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, freely confessing that it comes to us only by your grace and mercy, that we have no claim upon it or right to it, that we have not merited it. Father, it comes to us only because you have first loved us. We ask Father, that you'll increase our love in return for you, and that you'll do that even through this study of your word today. For we pray in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Two weeks ago, when I was with you, we were looking at Revelation chapter 9, perhaps one of the more grotesque chapters of the book of Revelation, in light of the symbolism that we find there, the figures of speech that we find there. And I'd like to go over Revelation chapter 9 again today. As I said last time, we would range over it twice, once looking at particular indications of the referent of the prophecy. And then today I want to look at it more generally in light of. In context to everything else that's being said, the flow of the narrative. We'll begin by reading it. John writes, Revelation 9. The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen into the earth. And there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. And he opened the pit of the abyss, and there went up smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth. And power was given them. And as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads. And it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months. And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man. And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it. And they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war. And upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold. And their faces were as men's faces, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were, breastplates of iron. And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war. And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings. And in their tails is their power to hurt men. Five months they have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon. The first woe was past. Behold, there come yet two woes hereafter. Let me, by way of summary, just go back now and look at each one of these verses and remind you of how I've interpreted it and what I think the general thrust of the passage is. And then summarize the first woe, and we'll go on to look at the second in chapter nine. The fifth angel, of course, is the fifth of seven angels that are going to sound the trumpet heralding the coming of God's judgment in one form or another. The fifth angel sounded, and as soon as that trumpet was blast, John saw a star, a fallen star. Now, I don't interpret that theologically meaning a fallen spirit, but rather in terms of the narrative itself. The star, having descended from the sky, the shooting star having come down to earth, was given the key of the pit of the abyss, the key of the bottleneck, if you will, of the small passage leading into the bottomless pit in the underworld. The key to that passage was given to this angel, and of course, he used it to open the pit of the abyss. The abyss, of course, is the abode of the evil spirits. We see that when Jesus encountered the demoniac, the spirits within the demoniac cried out that they not be return to the abyss so suddenly, so soon. So the key opens the pit, and out of the pit come forth these demons. But what we read actually is that out of the pit comes forth smoke as the smoke of a great furnace, only reminding us that while it may be a place of restraint and incarceration for the demons, it's nonetheless somehow a terrible place. It's a place of torment. So smoke comes forth from it like a great furnace, so much smoke that the air is darkened. And out of the smoke, then come these locusts. And this begins the first of two grotesque types of creatures that John describes in chapter nine. The locusts come out of the smoke, having with them power like scorpions. So we have scorpion locusts. And these locusts were told that they weren't to behave like ordinary locusts. Actually, we're being told that they don't behave like ordinary locusts. They don't eat the grass and the green things of the earth or the trees. They don't hurt any living thing of that sort. But only such men as do not have the seal of God on their forehead, those who have not been marked as possessed by God, those who have not been redeemed by God as his own, suffer the torments of the scorpion type locusts. The locusts do not have the power to kill, but only to bring torment. And the torment is specifically said to be that of five months. Now, I suggest that we have a number of indications here that John speaking of the invasion of Jerusalem, the fall of Jerusalem at the hand of the Roman armies in AD 70. Of course, the date AD 70 is nowhere indicated here. Only history has provided that the locusts coming out of the smoke upon people not having the mark of God. Locusts, of course, were one of the plagues on Egypt back at the time of the Exodus. Locusts in the Prophecy of Joel, chapter two, were an indication of the invading armies of Assyria that Israel would have to undergo in punishment. And so now Israel, once delivered by a locust plague, Israel, once chastened by a locust plague of army, that is an army of locusts, a locust army of horsemen, literally. And Israel now is going to undergo the same kind of procedure as Joel was indicating, but this time not for chastening, but for God's rejection of them in punishment. These locusts are not regular locusts. They're going to be herding men, those who are unregenerate. And the type of hurt here is apparently to be identified with the epidemic spread of disease, some sort of less than lethal physical suffering that men would undergo at the time of the invasion. Verse 6 says that in those days, the days of the fulfillment of this dreadful prophecy of judgment, in those days, men will seek death, but death will run away from them. Even as Jesus had said to the women weeping on the road to Golgotha that they shouldn't weep for themselves, but rather weep for what God was going to do in dreadful judgment on Jerusalem. Jesus says in that day, men will call for the mountains to fall upon them. They'll be seeking death, but that will not be a relief for them. And so God, now avenging the death of his messianic son, is going to punish Jerusalem with a locust plague, the symbol of a locust plague, literally indicating hordes of horsemen invading Jerusalem. And John tells us specifically verse seven, that the shape of the locust is like Horses, and, and these horses are prepared for battle and upon their heads are crowns likened to gold. And their faces are as men's faces. We have an army of men and upon their head it's like crowns of gold. I didn't mention this last time, but interestingly, the Roman army wore burnished helmets at this time. And in addition to the fact that the sun beating upon such helmets might give the appearance of something like unto gold, they also had golden leaf work in the helmets as part of the symbol or insignia of the Roman army. And so maybe this is what John has in mind when he says they have upon their heads something likened to golden crowns. Their hair is like the hair of women. They're a strong people, like Absalom, like Samson. And their teeth are the teeth of lions. They have breastplates, breastplates of iron. And then John gives away, it seems to me, literally what the interpretation must be. When he says, and when they rush to war, I mean, when they fly, the beating of their wings, the sound they make, that terrible buzz that we understand, you know, we've experienced in regard, I mean, in connection with locusts. That buzz actually to John sounds like the sound of chariots and horses rushing to war. Okay, then verse 11 reminds us that this invasion, this Roman army overcoming Jerusalem while it's under the control of God, nevertheless the army that is doing the invading and doing the destroying doesn't have the approval of God. It's really a demonically inspired army because over the locust plague. Now returning to the symbolism or the spiritual dimension, if you will, over the locust plague they have, over the locusts that are going to plague Jerusalem, there is a king, and the king's name is given in Hebrew and in Greek as destruction and destroyer. In the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon. It's very likely in light of certain polemics that we know to have been written in that day and also certain historical events that that could have been a way that John was slandering the emperor of the Roman Empire as one who literally went after and worshiped Apollo as his God and attempted to become the messenger of Apollo on Earth. But anyway, the main point is that Satan is under the control of God and Satan is the one who is enabling the Roman army to, to do this work of destruction. Verse 12 says, and that's the first woe. But lo and behold, there are two more coming right after it. That's nothing. You see, we're being told that's just the beginning of the misery. That's Just a five month torment. Don't forget that five months is the time that Gesius Florus worked his destruction in the area of Jerusalem at the time of its fall. And then we come to verse 13. The sixth angel sounds his trumpet, heralding a continuation of the judgment of God. John says, I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice 10,000 times 10,000. I heard the number of them, and thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates as of fire and hyacinth and brimstone. And the heads of the horses are the heads of lions. And out of their mouths proceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone by these three plagues was the third part of men killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails are like unto serpents and have heads, and with them they hurt. And the rest of mankind who were not killed with these plagues repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons. And the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. So we've already seen in chapter nine a terrible vision of a strange type of creature, this locust, this mutant type of locust. And now John tells us of a strange kind of horse that is going to be used as well, symbolically. He's going to be used in the invasion. Verse 13 begins, and the sixth angel sounded, he blew his trumpet. And as he did, John hears a voice from the horns of the golden altar, which is before God. The emphasis is that the altar is before God, that the voice has divine approval. It comes from his altar, and it's the golden altar. It's a very valuable altar. It comes from the very horns of the altar, from the very place where a man could have fled for refuge, you see, where a criminal might have sought asylum, from the very altar where blood sacrifice was made so that we'd be reconciled to God from the very place of safety. Then before God comes the voice destroy. God will no longer have mercy upon these people. We hear a voice from the horns of the golden altar. Now, it's been suggested to me, and I'm somewhat fascinated with the suggestion that we should connect the voice from the horns of the golden altar with the angel in chapter eight, verses three to five, who comes over the altar and cast coals of fire upon the earth. Let's remind ourselves of this angel, Chapter eight, verse three. And another angel came and stood over the altar and having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar that was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel taketh the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it upon the earth. And there followed thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake. Now, you may recall that when I expounded chapter eight, I mentioned that one difficulty for a lot of the commentators is the fact that this angel who is at the golden altar, apparently adds something to the prayers of the saints, in some sense does a mediatorial work with respect to the prayers, advancing them to God. And it has to be said, of course, that according to the theology of the New Testament, we don't believe that angels intercede in prayer for the saints of God's people. And therefore this must be understood as the angel working with the prayers of the saints, or his prayers being added to the saints or something like that. But it doesn't advance the prayers of the saints. Okay, so that's an awkwardness here. Nevertheless, the angel comes forth. He does a work right at the altar. Now, at the foot of the altar, we've already Learned from Chapter 6 is the blood of the martyrs. Okay? Remember in the Old Testament, the sacrifice would have been slain at the altar and the blood would have dripped down well, now here John is envisioning the blood of the martyrs at the foot of the altar, crying out, how long will we have to wait for our vengeance? How long will you wait to vindicate our name and our lives on earth? Now the angel comes to the altar, the angelic priest, if you will, comes to the altar and he takes coals from the altar and casts them upon the earth, takes the judgment of God, the fiery judgment of God, and casts it upon the earth in answer to the prayers of the Saints. One more thing. This one who comes to the golden altar is called another angel, verse three. And another angel came and stood over the altar, distinguished from the series of angels that are going to blow the trumpets, we have another angel, a different angel, and that's precisely the way we see designated in chapter seven, the one who. I'm sorry, that's not precisely the way, but that also is connected with chapter seven, in that an angel is to go through the earth, marking with the mark of God, God's people. Now, let's put all this together. Now, an angel has been told by God to put his mark of possession and protection upon his people. That angel, perhaps that same angel, comes now to the golden altar in answer to the prayers of the saints and intercedes with the prayers of the saints and is given permission to cast coals of fire upon earth. And that angel, then it's the voice of that angel we have in chapter nine, from the horns of the golden altar, before God, saying to the angel that blew the sixth trumpet, release the four angels of destruction at the River Euphrates. Now, that is just. That's the package. Okay, that's one way to put all this together. One difficulty I have with the suggestion that this angel is the son of God, Jesus Christ. Well, one problem that some people have is that, is it appropriate to call Jesus an angel? Well, in chapter 20, verse one, where we read of an angel coming down from heaven, having a chain in his hand and the key of the abyss, when we get to chapter 20, I will argue at great length that that, in fact must be interpreted as Jesus Christ. The Book of Hebrews refers to Jesus Christ as an angel. And we know from the theology of the Old Testament that the angel of the Lord was functionally equivalent with the second person of the Trinity or the Son of God. So it's not inappropriate, I don't think, to call Jesus an angel. My one reservation in identifying this angel at the golden altar, this angel that marks the people of God and then judges all the rest of the world. My one reservation is just the fact that he's introduced as another angel. That seems a bit too casual, not quite indicative or specific enough. However, it has been suggested to me that there may be Old Testament background for the very syndrome or package of things that we've been looking at. Remember, this angel does what he marks the people of God, and then this angel also spreads coals of fire, fiery judgment upon those who are rebellious. If we'll turn to Ezekiel, the ninth and tenth chapters in the Old Testament, I'd like to read for you these two chapters, and then I'm going to ask that Jim Jordan come up front, and he hasn't prepared this. I asked him just this morning if he wouldn't, offhand, off the cuff, give us an interpretation of this passage in Ezekiel. He's the one who suggested that perhaps this gives us some Old Testament background to that angel at the horns of the golden altar in Ezekiel 9. I'll just pick up reading. Then he cried in mine ears with a loud voice saying, cause ye them that have charge over the city to draw near every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate which lieth toward the north. Every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand, and one man in the midst of them, clothed in linen, with a rider's ink horn by his side. And they went in and stood beside the brazen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereon it was to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen who had the rider's inkhorn by his side. And Jehovah said to him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in my hearing, go ye through the city after him and smite. Let not your eyes spare, neither have ye pity. Slay utterly the old men and the young man, and the virgin, and little children and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house. And he said unto them, defile the house and fill the courts with the slain. Go ye forth. And they went forth and smote in the city. And it came to pass while they were smiting. And I was left that I fell upon my face and cried and said, ah, Lord, Jehovah, wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy wrath upon Jerusalem? Then said he unto me, that you the iniquity of the house of Israel in Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of the resting of judgment. For they say, Jehovah hath forsaken the land, and Jehovah seeth not. And as for me also, mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way upon their head, and Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me. And then I looked, and behold, in the firmament that was over the head of the cherubim, there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. And he spake unto the man clothed in linen and said, go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherubim, Fill both thy hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. Now, the cherubim stood on the right side of the house. And when the man went in and the cloud filled the inner court, and the glory of Jehovah mounted up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah's glory. And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court as the voice of God Almighty when he speaketh. And it came to pass when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, take fire from between the whirling wheels from between the cherubim, that he went in and stood beside a wheel. And I'll leave off the reading at that particular point and ask if Jim might expound a little bit further on the suggestion that this provides an Old Testament background for the idea of an angel that marks the people of God. And the same angel then comes and spreads judgment, the coals of fire upon those who are not received, have not received this mark. Jim?

Well, I had anticipated being called on to do this. This is based on Fairbairn and Hingstonburg's approach to this passage. You know that in Daniel, the son of man or the angel of the Lord is described as wearing white linen. That's picked up in Revelation 1. The verses there are Daniel 10, 5, and 12, 6 to 9. Daniel's written the same time as Ezekiel. It's in the same stage of redemptive history. The white linen points to the great high priest who wore the linen on the day of atonement. And so there's a certain amount of day of atonement imagery brought in here. You'll notice in verse two of Ezekiel 9, it says six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north. This is the army invading Jerusalem in the Old Testament. This whole passage deals with the destruction of Jerusalem in the Old Testament, just like the passage in Revelation deals with the destruction of Jerusalem and the new. Here are six men coming in, and then there's a seventh man who is described as a certain man among them clothed in linen. Now, he actually is in charge of the operation, as we can see from 10 6, where he takes fire out from among the cherubim, fire from God speaking of judgment, and cast it over the city. So whatever destruction these six men carry out seems to be under his supervision. But before they are allowed to go through the city and kill the people, he has to go through and mark them. First of all, it says in verse two at the end. Well, in the middle of the verse, it says, among them there was a certain man clothed in linen, which makes me believe this is the angel of the Lord or the great high priest, the second person of the Trinity, a writing case at his loins. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar which had been in front of the tabernacle, a place where sin was judged. Then the glory of the God of Israel, the Shekinah glory, went up from the cherub on which it had been. You know, it was over the throne of God and the holiest of all, and it moved up and went to the front door of the temple. So God comes out, and he is the one who orders them to do what they are about to do. This judgment on Jerusalem is at the command of God. And he called to the man clothed in linen in whose loins was the writing case. And the Lord said to him, go through the midst of the city and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sign groan over all the abominations. Well, you know what the mark on the forehead is? It's where the sweat was put on the forehead. And sweat speaks of sin and the curse, and so that has to be covered. It was covered by a golden plate which had the name of God written on it for the high priest. And then in the book of Revelation, the angel goes through and puts this mark, which we would assume is the name of God, upon the foreheads of the saints. And there in Revelation, it's called the seal of the living God. And the lecture on the seal of the living God spoke to the first. The seal of the living God is the Holy Spirit. Well, I would take it that the only one who has the Holy Spirit to give is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says here he goes through and puts this mark. But then in verse five, and to the others, this is the six warriors. God said in the hearing of Ezekiel, go through the city after him and strike and don't let your eye. Have pity and don't spare. Slay everybody, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark. And start from the house of God. So they started with the elders. And that goes back to chapter 8, verse 11. Who are before the temple. The judgment begins at the house of God and moves out. Then the passage goes on, verse 11. It says, behold, a man clothed in linen in whose loins was the writing case reported, saying, I have done just as thou commanded me. So first the angel of the Lord, if that's who this is, goes through and marks out those who are to be delivered from. This is a Passover incident in the middle of Jerusalem. They have to be marked off. Then in verse chapter 10, then I looked. That's Ezekiel. And behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim, something like a sapphire stone in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above them. And he that is God apparently spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with the coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city. Well, there's the other half, the redemption work and the vengeance work. Here, the vengeance work, and the same man is in charge of it. Now, the cherubim were standing at the right hand of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. That's not somewhat relevant to what we're talking about. Look at verse six. It came about when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, take fire from the whirling wheels from between the cherubim. He entered and stood beside a wheel. Then the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire which was among the cherubim, took some and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen who took it and went out. So the judgment comes from the very nature of God's holiness, the holiness of God which is always guarded by the cherubim. This judgment comes out from that holiness of purity. It's delivered into the hands of an agent who uses it to destroy Jerusalem, to destroy the land of Israel at the time of the judgment in the Old Testament. Now, that's the interpretation, as Hingstenberg and Fairbairn gave it. In putting all that together, they are convinced that this is an anticipation of the world work of Christ. Then you come to Revelation, as Greg pointed out in chapter seven, verse one, you say, I saw another angel. Well, it's similar to the fact you've got six men presented here, and then a certain man who begins to stand out as doing distinctive work, another angel who seals the servants of God. And then in chapter eight, you have another angel who, after the prayers have been collected, adds his prayers to them, which would, if that's what that means, would speak of the intercessory work of Christ adding his prayers, the Holy Spirit adding his prayers to ours, and then he cast fire on the earth. So that's the reason for seeing this another angel as Christ.

That's very good. I think that's very hard to, you know, to break the. The coherence of those various points in Ezekiel and then the. The fulfillment of that sort of thing in. In Revelation as well. The one thing that, when I was reviewing for this lesson, that kind of pulled what Jim was saying there, as he had rehearsed this with me privately together from Ezekiel, is the fact that in Revelation 9, the voice from the. The voice from the altar is said to come from the very horns of the altar. And as I had already expounded that at the very place where the reconciliation with God would have been seen and the asylum with God would have been seen, from the very place where pity might have been expected, we hear the voice destroy. There will be no more mercy. There will be no more pity. And that's precisely what Ezekiel is getting at in chapters nine and ten. Show no pity. God is no longer going to spare the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And particularly Ezekiel describes the inhabitants of Jerusalem as not being remorseful over, not sighing over, not being disturbed in the slightest with the abominations in the city. Now look at the very end of chapter nine of Revelation, verse 20. And the rest of mankind who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the world works of their hands, that they should not worship demons or idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts. See, there's no sighing over the sinfulness of man in Jerusalem. There's no sense of remorse, there's no sense of repentance at all. And so that just seems to bring together all of these elements from chapters 7, 8 and 9, then in Revelation, and nicely puts them into interpretive package, a coherence that we can find in Ezekiel, chapters nine and ten. So I thank Jim for doing that without preparation. I couldn't tell it wasn't prepared. That was Very good. Let's continue in chapter nine from verse 13. Now, this one at the golden altar, which I think we can assume would be Jesus Christ doing, as Jim said, his vengeance work now on Jerusalem says to the sixth angel that had the trumpet. This is the only case where one of the angels sounding a trumpet is actually involved in the event which is heralded by the sounding of the trumpet, one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet loose. The four angels that were bound at the great river Euphrates. There's no known background for such an apocalyptic figure as four angels. In chapter seven, verse one of Revelation, we read that there are four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back or restraining the four winds of the earth. And that's not at all like what we're reading here now in chapter nine, because those angels are merciful angels. They're restraining the winds of judgment from blowing across the earth. And God tells those angels in chapter seven, now let the winds blow. But here, God doesn't tell restraining, merciful angels to just step out of the way. He says, let these destructive angels be unleashed upon the earth. And so it's a very strange sort of image. And I suggested to you last time that it may not be without significance that it was precisely four legions of the Roman army that were unleashed from the Euphrates river to go and to take care of the rebellion in Jerusalem. The Euphrates river, the longest river in western Asia, stretching well over 1700 miles, is very significant in terms of the history of God's people and the symbolism of the Old Testament in Genesis 50, Genesis 15:18. The River Euphrates is important to the Abrahamic promise. Let's take a look at that. Genesis 15:18. In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt, and unto the great river, the river Euphrates. So the Euphrates river then becomes an ideal marking point, an ideal boundary to the promised land. Deuteronomy 11:24. Every place whereupon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be from the wilderness in Lebanon, from the river Euphrates, even unto the Hindra sea shall be your border. God promises to the Israelites now coming into the land, the river Euphrates will mark the boundary of the promised land that he's given to them. Joshua 1:4. From the wilderness in this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your border. Okay, so the boundary of the promised land is seen paradigmatically in the Euphrates River. Of course, the Euphrates river was actually the boundary between Israel and her chief enemies throughout the Old Testament. In Isaiah the eighth chapter. Notice the image that Isaiah uses to speak of the invading army. Assyria. Assyria is going to invade now, the land of promise. God's going to bring an outside pagan force into the land of promise to judge his reprobate people. Isaiah 8, 5, 8 says, Jehovah spake unto me yet again, saying, forasmuch as this people have refused, the waters of Shiloh that go softly and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son. Now therefore, behold. The Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it shall come up over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it shall sweep onward into Judah, and it shall overflow and pass through it shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breath of thy land. O Immanuel. Oh, what a terrible figure. The Euphrates river is going to overflow its banks. It's going to run past its channels. It's just going to go over completely the land of promise. That's what it means, that the king of Assyria is going to come. His armies will be like the Euphrates river, flooding into the promised land. And of course, at the time the writing of the Book of Revelation, the Euphrates river was the literal boundary of the Roman Empire, separating it from the Parthian Empire on the other side. And so Rome has legions stationed at the Euphrates river to protect its boundaries. And those legions, now turning from the protection of the Roman boundaries outward, will turn inward and flood into the land, even as Isaiah had said, the Euphrates river would overflow. The four angels of judgment will flow into the land to judge Jerusalem. Verse 15. And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men from the torment of the first woe, the scorpion sting of the first woe, we turn to the massacre of the second woe. That's why the messenger had said, yet one woe is past, but two more are coming. It's even worse now from the five month torment. Gessius Florus invading and working his havoc in the land. Now the invasion itself and a massacre of one third of the population we are told that the angels of destruction had been prepared for this specific time. The Greek word having been prepared for this specific time is exactly the word. In fact, it's the very same form as we find in the 25th chapter of Matthew. Interestingly, where in Matthew 25 we read of the final judgment, and at verse 34 and 41, these then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come, ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Verse 41. Then shall I say unto them that are on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels from all eternity, from the foundation of the world. God has prepared the kingdom for his saints and has prepared the place of judgment for the devil and his angels. God is in sovereign control, you see, the destinies of men. And so also here we read that God has prepared the angels of destruction. They are created and fashioned to this very end, and the exact moment of their destructive work is under the control of God. John emphasizes that it's not just the year, and it's not just the month, it's not just the day, but it's the very hour. It's the very moment that God had destined that becomes the time of fulfillment. The exact moment is under the sovereign control of God, just like all the forces of history. So they have been prepared by God for this. And at the very moment of his appointing, they are released to do their work of massacre. And those whom they massacre are called those that dwell on the earth, a standard designation for men who are in hostility to God. However, as indicated in verse 4 of this chapter, and also by implication from verses 21 and 21 at the end of the chapter, they do not destroy the people of God, those who have the mark of God. They do not destroy those who repent of their sins, those who sigh over the abominations of Jerusalem. They rather attack those men who are in hostility to God. That's an interesting twist. In fact, you have to kind of sit there and let it sink in for a minute. Israel's conception of what would be going on would be this. According to its prophets, according to Israel's standard understanding of its own place in world history and its place before God, Israel would see the invasion of the Roman armies as a pagan attack against Israel, the people of God. But John tells us this is not a pagan attack upon his blessed people. It is rather a divinely ordained attack upon people who are in hostility to him. It's a double reversal of Israel's conception. Israel is not the people of God. They're those who are under the judgment of God. And although it looks like a pagan army that's coming through, it may look demonic as it comes upon them. It is divinely sanctioned and sent. And God says, there will be no more mercy for my people. At verse 16, John says the number of the armies of horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. Amazing. What's twice ten thousand times ten thousand? Well, now ten thousand has four zeros, okay? If you're going to square that now you're going to have eight zeros. And then of course, it's double. It's twice 10,000 times 10,000. Or if you will, it's a double myriad of myriads. 200 million people, to be taken literally, not at all an indefinite number. An incalculable immensity of people. I think the fact that John Cesis has an incalculable immense number of people is talking about the significance, the qualitative number, not quantitative, the qualitative significance of this. Israel will have no place to go. They will be flooded with people. Israel's judgment is so important in world history that it's as though this number of people is innumerable. But perhaps the allusion of John is to Psalm 68:17, where the Psalmist tells us, Psalm 68:17, the chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the sanctuary. It's the chariots of God. Pagan chariots, sure. Demonic chariots, yes, but under the control of God, the chariots of God, Myriads of myriads now coming upon his own people. Walvoord, who of course is a pre millennial interpreter of the Book of Revelation, President of Dallas Theological Seminary, Walvard Premillennialist, remarks in his commentary that according to Time magazine, an article in Time magazine, Red China's militia now numbers 200 million. That's interesting, but I think it's totally irrelevant. John is simply saying, as far as the eye can see, the judgment of God and there's no way to escape. We'll come back to what modern commentators can do to this passage when we get to the horses here in just a minute in verse 17, notice John says, and thus I saw the horses in the vision. This is the only place in the Book of Revelation where John says that his prophecy, that these revelations have been mediated to him in a vision John is not having revealed to him. Newspaper History advance it's not pure and simple a Revelation of what shall happen. Straightforward prophecy, but it's prophecy by way of vision, by way of figure, by way of symbol, indicating that the descriptions were apt to be highly symbolic in nature. All right. Then John tells us of some horses that are used in the invasion. These horses have lion like heads who breathe fire and brimstone, who have serpent tails with lethal heads. That is the serpents of the tails have lethal heads with them. The riders on the horses, According to verse 17, wear breastplates that have the colors red, blue and yellow, which match of course, the fire, the smoke and the brimstone, brimstone being sulfur yellow in color. The red, blue and yellow match the fire, smoke and brimstone of that which is breathed out by the horses. And so while the destruction seems to be mainly the work of the horses, more than that of the riders, yet the color coordination, I think symbolically shows us the unity of the work of the horses and their riders. Now these horses in particular have lion like heads, indicating their cruelty and their destruction, just like the lion, like teeth of the locusts in verse eight in chapter nine. And out of their mouth comes forth fire, smoke and brimstone. How are we to understand that? Now John has just said in the vision, I saw it this way. It's as though the horses were breathing fire, smoke and brimstone. I think John makes it very clear that the whole nature of the Book of Revelation is one of figurative literature and symbolic in its intent. But nevertheless, we have some interesting interpretations given to us. And the first that I'll refer to is by the amillennialist William Hendrickson, who is a popular commentator on the Book of Revelation and reformed circles. But I just shake my head in amazement when I read what he did with this particular passage. Hendrickson says, the sixth angel trumpets, and now the same powers of darkness that carry on the work of destruction in the hearts of men, change men into devils, as it were. For in times of war, wicked men seem to become incarnate demons. The sixth trumpet describes war. Not one particular war is indicated, but all wars, past, present and future. Yet we are convinced that the symbol refers especially to those most frightful wars that shall be waged toward the close of this dispensation. The Hankstone says, I don't want to be pinned down to just one particular war in one sense covers all the wars of history, but I think especially it refers to that grand war that will be at the very end of world history. And then he goes on, it should be clear by this time that these are not Ordinary horses, That's right. They clearly symbolize war engines, war tools of every description. Think of tanks, cannons and battleships. All this terrible death dealing war machinery causing destruction on every side. Verse 19 is included in the symbolism of these horses. They kill one third of mankind. What I'm saying is for all the commendable nature of Hendriksen's commentary, and for the fact that his amillennialism is certainly far better than the premillennialism of a Wahlberg or even a Hal Lindsay, the fact is that he falls into the same sort of interpretive and hermeneutical traps. He says this must be one final war at the end of history. And these horses, if they breathe finally and brimstone, well, the horses must be battleships and cannons and engines of war. Well, not to be outdone by the amillennialist, Hal Lindsey has his own interpretation of the horses, and I think we should take a minute before the bell rings to hear his idea. I'll read somewhat at length here because he also interprets to us the number of the horses that are invading and all the rest. In fact, he's going to pin it down very specifically. If you follow this line of interpretation, you'll have the comfort of absolutely precise indication of what this is about in world history. Okay. Lindsay has just said that east and west, according to the old saying, never meet. But then he says, but they're going to meet. In the tribulation. The four angels of Revelation 9, 4 and 15 will mobilize an army of 200 million soldiers from east of the Euphrates. Revelation 16 will provide more details about this. But in essence I believe these 200 million troops are red Chinese soldiers accompanied by other Eastern allies. It's possible that the industrial might of Japan will be united with Red China. For the first time in history, there will be a full invasion of the west by the Orient. It has to be more than coincidence that an Associated Press article by John H. Hightower, Dateline, Washington, D.C. april 28, 1964, said, quote the documents that his secret Chinese military plans make clear that the Red Chinese leaders believe they cannot be defeated by long range nuclear weapons such as the U.S. missiles. And if they were invaded, they would relate on their vast military power. One estimate is that in April 1961 they were supposed to be 200 million armed and organized militiamen. Then Lindsay continues, if the armed militia of China was estimated at 200 million in 1961, what do you suppose it is now? The obvious significance of this fact is that for the first time in history there is an Oriental power that can do exactly, exactly what this prophecy foretells. Exactly what this prophecy foretells. Consider also at this point that when John wrote this prophecy, there were not yet 200 million people in the whole world. This is truly an amazing and terrifying prophecy. It is also interesting to note that throughout history there's never been a great invasion of the west by the East. It's as if God put an invisible boundary line there, restraining the forces that could have mobilized the Orient for a a full scale invasion of the West. But with the releasing of these four mighty demons, all stops are pulled. There will be a full mobilization of the kings of the East. Revelation 16:12 the fabled yellow Peril will become a horrible reality as they swoop across the dried up Euphrates river into the Middle east where war is already in progress. The Apostle John describes the army's mounts as horses with heads like lions and with fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths. My opinion is that he is describing some kind of mobilized ballistic missile launcher. This great army will apparently destroy one third of the world's remaining population while en route from the Orient to the Middle East. This could mean the destruction of the great population centers of Asia, such as India, Japan, Pakistan, Indochina and Indonesia. It could also indicate a long range strike at the United States itself, which might explain why the United States is nowhere intimated in the Bible's prophecies of the last war of the world. I'm almost done. John describes the means by which one third of mankind will be annihilated as fire, smoke and brimstone. All these things are a part of things. Thermonuclear war smoke represents the immense clouds of radioactive fallout and debris, while brimstone is simply melted earth in building materials. Red China is not only a thermonuclear power at the time of this writing, but the rapidity with which she became one is even more startling. Many recent articles show that China is now deploying medium range ballistic missiles capable of hitting every major city in Asia. China also has the capacity of hitting Moscow with missiles, which is causing some interesting maneuvers on the part of the Soviets toward the West. I personally believe that the four evil angels who will be unbound at the river Euphrates will instantly mobilize a giant war machine made up of some of the oriental countries, primarily Red China, and will be responsible for wiping out one third of mankind. And to Hendrickson, excuse me, to Hendrickson and to Hal Lindsay as well as Walvoord, we again Say, interesting, highly imaginative, but totally irrelevant. And the reason we bring this out is not because I think it's all that profitable simply to look back and to have an attitude of either disdain or ridicule, but to show us precisely what goes wrong when you don't allow the word of God to be its own interpreter. The shamefulness of this is that it robs the people of God of any fruitful and profitable approach to the revelation of John. Here that we're reading. John tells us very clearly that the invasion comes from the Euphrates river. The four angels of destruction under the hand of God. And Habakkuk, the first chapter, verse 8. We'll close with this. Habakkuk 1, Verse 8. I think we have something of an early indication of the meaning of this particular prophecy. Habakkuk, of course, is talking of the Chaldeans rising up to punish the sins of Judah. And at verse eight, chapter one, their horses also are swifter than leopards and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen press proudly on. Yea, their horsemen come from far. They fly as an eagle that hastes to devour. And so, as Habakkuk had already seen, the rising up of fierce horsemen against the people of God was but a sign that God was judging his own people. And so John says, the horsemen of the east, coming from the Euphrates river, the fierce horsemen will come and destroy a third, which is to say the significant portion of the world's population, the very people of God. So let's pray. Father, we ask you that you would give us minds that are prepared and suitable to receive your word, to receive it in a way which is profitable, a way which sees its true meaning and application. And, Lord, minds that can be edified by the fulfillment of the prophecy that we see in history. We ask you, Lord, that you might remind us even in. In this reading today of your dreadful sovereignty, your almighty power by which you prepare every event of world history, and that at every moment, whatever takes place is under your control and falls out according to your plan. We ask you, Father, that you might increase our respect for our reverence for the truth of your word, as we see every prophecy therein fulfilled, even as you had intended. And, Lord, we pray that you would chasten us and give us a sense of repentance and remorse over our own sins as your people, that you would make us to sigh over our abominations, that we would not be like Israel of old, that you would not have to take your former people and judge them in history because of their defection from your word. We ask, Lord, that you might increase our love for the Savior, Jesus Christ. The One who works not only redemption and history for his people, but vengeance against every one of their enemies. We ask you, Lord, that we might know him as our Sovereign Savior, the One who intercedes for us, as the righteous One and our advocate. And that we might never know him in that dreadful position as judge. And we thank you for the love that has made that relationship to him him possible. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.